Sewer district and City of Waynesville reach agreement

After years of dispute, the Pulaski County Sewer District and the City of Waynesville have reached a long-term agreement regarding territory in western Waynesville.

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By Mandy Matney

The Daily Guide - Waynesville, MO

By Mandy Matney

Posted Mar. 6, 2013 at 10:37 AM
Updated Mar 6, 2013 at 7:41 PM

By Mandy Matney

Posted Mar. 6, 2013 at 10:37 AM
Updated Mar 6, 2013 at 7:41 PM

After years of dispute, the Pulaski County Sewer District and the City of Waynesville have reached a long-term agreement regarding territory in western Waynesville.

The ordinance, which was approved at Thursday's Waynesville City Council meeting and signed at a special meeting on Friday, makes a few changes in the 2010 agreement.

The dispute dates back to 1991 when when the City of Waynesville annexed additional property in the West Waynesville area, extending into the boundaries of the Pulaski County Sewer district.

Both the city and the sewer district wanted to provide this area with sewer service and both parties filed law suits to take control over the area.

"For several years it was costing citizens money that really needed to be going into our projects," Waynesville Mayor Luge Hardman said.

"This is a historical moment for the county and the citizens. I want to thank the committee who worked so hard on the disagreement. This came awful close to just blowing up a few years ago," Pulaski County Sewer District president Gary Porter said.

Hardman said that the agreement signed on Friday answers many questions about territory and rates and addresses many issues the two parties have.

"It's an improvement of the first contract to find better solutions for some long-term issues," Porter said.

The new contract, which is a 35-year agreement, allows the city of Waynesville to continue to sere to its customers at locations where service was already being provided as of January 1, 2006, except for the Skyline Cycles location. The ordinance also puts capacity limits on the wast water treatment plant.

Porter says that this agreement will benefit the customers, the sewer district, and the city of Waynesville.

"This helps keep their rates down," Porter said. "The whole key to it is to keep rates down as low as we can. We are both mandated to by the department of natural resources and a lot of these things we don't have a lot of control over, but this definitely helps."

At the signing, Hardman referred to a speech by Gerald Ford after Watergate when he said, "Our long national nightmare is over."